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Thursday, May 30, 2013

This English Proverb from 1546 has never been more true than this spring! The U.K. is on course to have the coldest spring on record in 30 years meaning that when the sun comes out you have to seize the day and take full advantage!

Last weekend, a bank holiday weekend too, the weather turned warmer and for 3 days we experienced a little slice of summer. Having seen the forecast DH and I scoured the net to find a suitable campsite so we could get away and enjoy a little mini holiday.

Finding a campsite was much harder than we thought as most places had been booked and were full. But thanks to Pitchup we found a little site fairly new to the rounds in Holbeach in Lincolnshire. It was a basic site called Lazy Acre right in the middle of no where. It did exactly what it says on the tin and gave us a lovely location to be lazy and easy going. Once the kettle was on and the cake cut (click for recipe), I was well and truly relaxed.

On our second day we went up the coast to a lovely beach in Brancaster where we wrote messages in the sand and ate ice cream!… Just the thing that English summers are made of.

There were vast bands along the beach of razor shells which crunched eerily under your feet but provided a great photo opportunity. :o)

But there were also lots of sandy dunes too allowing me to capture pictures of DD2 in a beautiful setting.

We were treated to two gorgeous sunsets while on the campsite which we enjoyed immensely. As we drove home we knew the forecast for the week would be cold and rainy and we were so pleased we got the chance to be out in the great outdoors while the sun was shining!

Friday, May 24, 2013

Just a quick post to show you a little of what is going on under the machine these days. You might recognize them as migrating geese and once this quilt is together I hope to put up a little tutorial to show you how it is easy it is to cut and sew.

I’ve done panels in different colours mimicking the rainbow..except I’ve left out indigo! Using 6 colours I got a square quilt which I thought made more sense! LOL

Lastly I’ll leave you with a cute picture… On the last Bank holiday weekend…and the last time we saw warmth and sun, I was lucky enough to spend a glorious day up in the Peak District at the Bakewell show. And as every country show needs to have animals, we were treated to a pen of sweet lambs…what a perfect photo opportunity!

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Sometimes you find yourself just in the need for something new...a distraction…even a steep learning curve just to shake things up. That’s exactly what happened this week when I started looking at crochet… in particular, granny squares in crochet.

It’s not like I need another project! I’ve got plenty to keep me busy, but after looking at blogs like Attic24 (who makes crochet look so idyllic) and watching clever videos I found myself buying some yarn having a go. I have no idea how big this will get, but if I make a few squares as and when it will eventually grow.

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

This tiny log cabin measures only 2 1/2" wide and was so easy to sew thanks to foundation paper piecing. Paper piecing is the very first thing I did in patchwork and the only class I’ve ever taken back in Thunder Bay, ON in 1994. Little did I know what I was getting into! A friend of mine had taken the class and showed me a little sampler with houses and I thought it would be a great way to use up my dressmaking scraps.

The tutor wasn’t overly impressed with my scraps of cotton, but I didn’t have the resources to buy yardage, so scraps it was going to be. (At least I brought cotton!) I had my grandmother’s old Kenmore machine and followed along in my own way. In the class we made paper-pieced stars, but the instructor never told us how to completed the project and I went home with my handful of stars and put them together as best I could…with 5/8” seams! I was a dressmaker first after all! It didn’t occurred to me that I shouldn’t lose the points. It would be another year or two before I’d try patchwork again, this time with the help of Simply Quilts and Quilt in a Day. I was still using dressmaking scraps then and have a couple quilts with odd fabric to show for it, but they are favourites because they show my humble beginnings into a craft that has become a passion.

I’ve kinda gone off track…you might be wondering what on earth I’m going to use those log cabins for and it is this…a Roosting Round Robin. (like a round robin, but you work on your own project throughout) There are a few of us participating and you can see Lynda’s version here.) It’s the throw of a dice that determines the theme for the next month. First it was house, then log cabin…I wonder what will be next… ???

Tuesday, May 07, 2013

So a bit of warm weather has finally graced the British Iles and that can only mean one thing… a bit of garden sewing! After tending to the weeds and finding the garden furniture I treated myself to a cup of tea in the sun. I’m working on a hand-piecing project which gives me the perfect excuse to sit in the garden instead of at the sewing machine… I could get use to this :o)

Friday, May 03, 2013

L ast but not least my final quilt for Project Linus (at least for now). I’ve been in a real sewing mood since Christmas and I think in an effort to chase away the January Blues, Flagging February and Miserable March I’ve been sewing like a mad woman. Can’t fault me though, because for the first winter in a long time I didn’t lose my mojo and several quilts were made.

I love this one…The tutorial was from Red Pepper Quilts and it came together beautifully with matching points and no frustration. A perfect match for a charm pack and a little bit of yardage.

In my case I was using what I had left from some of the Linus quilts I made earlier this year. The blue was the offcuts from a backing from a previous quilt and the colourful fabrics where from my scrap box of 5” charms.

I quilted it with a loop-de-loop pattern. It was very fast and was enough to keep the layers together while letting the pattern shine. The pink in the borders was another offcut, but I didn’t have enough to make all of the borders from it, so I pieced it will another floral strip to make it wide enough to frame it. A happy result and a better result than a solid border.

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